Well, dear readers, let me give you the up-to-the-minute news: It is October. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, it is October and it is my fervent hope and prayer that October will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful. There, I’ve said it and I’m glad.
The final day of September was nothing to write home about, and yet I wrote home about it so it was, in fact, something to write home about since I wrote home about it. Here’s what I wrote home:
Dear Home:
Yesterday was nothing to write you about but I felt compelled to write you anyway.
Sincerely,
BK
In any case, I only got four hours of sleep – just couldn’t fall back asleep and so I got up and called Apple to figure out the endless problems I have with my old iTunes store Apple ID. I don’t use it anymore, but all the apps I have on my phone and iPad were gotten through that ID so in order to do the updates you have to have that password. I thought I knew what it was and yet none of my passwords worked. And I could find no way of resetting because it wouldn’t allow me to type in that user ID because it’s just a name with no e-mail address – when I first set up my Apple ID you didn’t need no stinking e-mail address. Anyway, I got a very helpful fellow and while it was like solving a mystery we did get it solved – he finally found the e-mail address that was associated with the ID name and we were able to reset the password using that. I was finally able to update all of my apps. Whew!
I answered e-mails, wrote a bit, had some more telephonic conversations, was thrilled to find that we jumped to 101% on Indiegogo, so now if we can just cover those pesky fees (close to four hundred bucks, which actually seems much more excessive than the last time – but it also includes Paypal fees as well). By the end of last night we were up to 104% and we have seven full days to go, with plenty of fun perks left, including one more Richard Sherman signed musical quote. Then I went and had a very early lunch, like eleven o’clock early. I had a Chinese chicken salad and a bagel, then went and picked up a few packages and came home. I did some more work on the computer then finally sat on my couch like so much fish to watch a motion picture on Blu and Ray. But before I could even start it I dozed off for a little over an hour.
Then I watched the motion picture, which was entitled – well, let’s see if you get it from this line: “Boobies, boobies, boobies.” Yes, Valley of the Dolls is on Blu-ray, a new Criterion release. There’s never been anything quite like it, especially if you were around when it actually came out, which I was. Back then, before I was told it was a camp classic, I just watched it as, you know, a movie, and despite my being a fan of its director, Mark Robson, I thought it was pretty dreadful, and yet fascinating and kind of irresistibly bad. I’ve seen it a few times over the years, especially in its various home video incarnations VHS to laserdisc to DVD, none of which, for me, have looked very good.
Watching it again, it’s still irresistibly bad, still fascinating, and still pretty dreadful, but it’s just one of those movies that you have to give in to. Of course it has become a camp classic, and it became one within a year of its release and people laugh both with it and at it, but I suspect mostly the latter, albeit with fondness. Patty Duke is in a whole other universe, Susan Hayward is fun, Sharon Tate is actually lovely and sweet and delivers, for me, the film’s best performance simply because she’s playing it real, Barbara Parkins enunciates very well, Paul Burke is Paul Burke and a Lyon, and the rest of the folks are fun (including the young Richard Dreyfuss).
And now, finally, we have a wonderful transfer of it. It looks just great – lots of opticals, but they look pretty damn good, and the color is finally perfect. So, if you’re in the mood to Sparkle, Neely, Sparkle, this is a prize Blu-ray.
After that, I did a three-and-a-half mile jog then ate one biscotti for my sweet treat o’ the day. Then I had to get ready to go to a nightclub show. I didn’t really have to be there until eight, but parking is so crazy down there on Sunset and Highland that I left at six-thirty. There are several street parking spaces right in front of the club but they’re off limits on weekdays until seven o’clock. I timed it perfectly, arriving at around six minutes to seven. I simply parked in the first space directly in front of the club and waited in the car until seven. Perfect. Then I had an hour to kill so I just walked a bit, went into the new Rite Aid across the street, and marveled at just how seedy the area is and how filled with weird people it is. Why they haven’t perked up this part of Sunset is baffling to me. When you get closer to Cahuenga and then Vine that’s all very nice down there. But between Cahuenga and Highland it’s just pathetic. You do have the nice Crossroads of the World, but you also have seedy drug-infested motels – it’s just weird and hopefully they’ll get around to cleaning it up.
I probably walked a mile all told, then it was time to mosey on into the club. I joined Rob Stevens at a nice table. I was a bit surprised the room wasn’t full, although it was a nice-sized crowd. I said hey to the one or two people I knew. Then the show began. Since Rob will review it, I don’t really want to say too much, save for they haven’t quite made their concept work yet – the show is called From Chopin to Broadway, but it’s really more From Classical to Broadway, with a classical pianist meeting cabaret singer Peisha McPhee (mom to Katherine and Adriana, who were there to do one number with mom). Some of it was enjoyable but they just need to make it smoother and they should open the show with their encore – it would get everything off to a better start and make the concept clearer right off the bat, at least that’s how it seemed to li’l ol’ me. After the show, I came directly home.
Today, I must be up early for she of the Evil Eye will be here. I have decided not to jog because then I’ll be all sweaty and gross with no time to shower before our noon stumble-through. So, I’ll do some organizing and getting stuff in the garage, then I’ll do some errands and whatnot, then come back home at eleven-fifteen to set up the room. Little Hadley Miller will be there at eleven-thirty to run her number one more time before the stumble-through, then we begin at noon. After we finish, I’ll give whatever tiny notes I have, then I’m sure some of us will grab a bite to eat. After that, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, do a jog, get everything printed out for the show and get everything ready and in the car because I always worry I’ll forget stuff. Then I’ll just relax.
Tomorrow I’ll jog and then get to the club around three-fifteen to see Cathy Rigby and her number – we’ll adjust it as it needs to be for that space, then we’ll get her in her head mic and she and her group will be first up at sound check. We have a lot of songs to get through so we have to move everything along. Then after sound check I have my beloved artichoke and then it’s dinner for the audience and then the show, during which we’ll wish all our Jewish patrons and performers a happy Rosh Hashanah and New Year. I will, of course, have a full report.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do errands and whatnot and organizing, do a stumble-through, eat, hopefully pick up packages, get everything ready for the show, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite lines of dialogue from Valley of the Dolls? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall dream of boobies, boobies, boobies and a happy October because, as you know, it is my fervent hope and prayer that October will be a month filled with health, wealth, happiness, creativity, and all things bright and beautiful.